Thinking about breeding rare scorpions

[Daniel]

I'm thinking about getting into scorpion breeding. I currently have a male emperor scorpion and was thinking about getting a female. But after doing some searching around it seems like a lot of people are breeding emperors, so the value will likely go down as the scorpions increase in numbers. I am now thinking about breeding Heterometrus Swammerdami instead because they seem to be more rare, and they look plain awesome. The only problem is I don't have any Swammerdami currently. If anybody has any input on my idea or knows where I can find some sub adult, or adult Swammerdami I would appreciate it.

 

[pannaking22]

There will always be a demand for emperors, so you can't go wrong breeding them.

 

[pannaking22]

It's also worth noting that you probably shouldn't be breeding scorpions if you're in it for the money. The scorpion portion of the hobby is small, so you'll likely never make a ton of money breeding any species. Sure, some of the rare/sought after species will fetch you a little more money, but you probably won't hit it all that big. If you breed a good species that people will want for whatever reason (colorful, large, good starter species, interesting behaviors, communal, etc.), you'll always be able to sell some.

 

[Daniel]

I was thinking of doing it as more of a hobby because I enjoy scorpions. I do want to be able to sell some but money isn't that important.

 

[pannaking22]

Ah well if that's how you're going at it then I say go for it! Check around the classifieds section or post an ad of your own and see what pops up. I'm sure there are a couple people on here with some scorps to sell.

 

[Walter1]

Great responses 2 and 3 by Pannaking22.

Ultimately, these endeavors go a whole lot better if it's a species or group of species you really enjoy. I've been keeping a growing colony of Hadogenes paucidens for a few years. Females are very very gravid. That's great if I succeed with them. Helps with the captive market for an otherwise heavily-collected species and one that really intersts me.

 

[sschind]

Great responses 2 and 3 by Pannaking22.

Ultimately, these endeavors go a whole lot better if it's a species or group of species you really enjoy. I've been keeping a growing colony of Hadogenes paucidens for a few years. Females are very very gravid. That's great if I succeed with them. Helps with the captive market for an otherwise heavily-collected species and one that really intersts me.

I couldn't agree more. I owned a pet store for a while and I can't count the number of times I got animals back because people bought what others told them to get or they bought animals they thought they could breed and sell for more money. If you don't like the animal it will be nothing more than a commodity for you and may find your interest waning very quickly, especially if they don't start selling very well and you have to care for a bunch of them.

I've often said I will never make money breeding animals (reptiles in particular) because I simply have no interest in the ones that sell well (mainly morphs) and many of the ones I like the most are common and inexpensive. Some of the ones I am interested in that may bring a bit of money are either too expensive for me to get started with, are difficult to breed or the market just doesn't seem to be there or a combination of all three.

To the OP, as Pannaking said earlier you can't go wrong with emperors. It may seem like lots of people are breeding them but the demand will always be there. I don't know what babies are going for now but I know I wish I had a female to go with my male. Or maybe I have a female, I don't remember. All I know is when I put them together to try to breed them a while back the more aggressive of the two killed the other one. Now I not only don't have a pair I don't have a mellow one for handling during my shows. On top of that I sold off a group of about 30 babies that I had gotten from an imported female for $5.00 each about 3 months before the import ban kicked in

 

[Nikos]

how much are you willing to spend buying a swammerdami pair?

 

[Daniel]

I just sold my bike so I have a little cash. I would be willing to spend around $150 for a pair.

 

[Nikos]

and how much are you planning on selling the offspring?

 

[Daniel]

I would probably sell most of them, and I would try to get $55 each not including shipping.

 

[Galapoheros]

I think even $75 is reasonable, or more, at least for juves, having gone through some molts. They aren't easy to get here, they were in much more demand than emps before the restrictions kicked in emps/imperators are going for $100+ here in a store. They are practically equal to imperator in the sizes they come in, ...small, medium and large. ime, they aren't as skittish as imperator either. While imperator often runs and hides in response to a vibration, swammerdami more often just stops what it's doing as if to sense what's going on. I'm working on breeding them, but like a thought mentioned earlier here, I'm not really interested in selling them. I just like knowing I might help to keep them available here. Honestly, I like having them more than I want to sell them. I don't have enough to sell anyway, ...breeding stock.

 

[Daniel]

I think even $75 is reasonable, or more, at least for juves, having gone through some molts. They aren't easy to get here, they were in much more demand than emps before the restrictions kicked in emps/imperators are going for $100+ here in a store. They are practically equal to imperator in the sizes they come in, ...small, medium and large. ime, they aren't as skittish as imperator either. While imperator often runs and hides in response to a vibration, swammerdami more often just stops what it's doing as if to sense what's going on. I'm working on breeding them, but like a thought mentioned earlier here, I'm not really interested in selling them. I just like knowing I might help to keep them available here. Honestly, I like having them more than I want to sell them. I don't have enough to sell anyway, ...breeding stock.

Makes sense, I wouldn't sell them if I had them either. I've got a question though are adults worth more or less than juves?

 

[Galapoheros]

I guess it's a matter of opinion and motive. If I wanted a breeding pair, I would look for adults and pay up to try and get going with breeding as soon as I could. For people that only want one+ to set up, observe, just think it's cool they're being taken care of, well I personally would want ones that have molted a few times because if they've been through a few+ molts, it's probably healthy and past that early fragile zone and so you know that if they stay healthy they should last for years. When buying adults, you just don't know how old they are. It's kind of strange, some have something like this subconscious assumption that what they buy was born the day they bought it. But, people will pay if they want the adult, it's just what they do. It's typical adults are higher priced, people just see it and want it. So to sell, whether it makes sense or not, people usually pay more for adults.

 

[wodesorel]

Four years. FOUR YEARS. And over half my female Emps (that were born here) have still yet to give birth for the first time. I'm sure a lot of people are going into it thinking it's a quick buck, but once they figure out once their adults kick off that it takes years to get more to reproduction age, I'm not sure many will stick with it for the long haul. (Not to mention the loss of males, two were killed here in the last couple of months trying to mate them.) You can breed pretty much anything else for a profit in a heck of a lot less time with a heck of a lot less risk. I'm doing it because I love the species and I don't want to see them dry up from the hobby or become seriously out of reach, like AGMs have over the years due to poor planning, but I'll be asking a fair rate for my babies due to the time, feeders and space I've had to devote to getting them over a span of four to five YEARS.

 

[pannaking22]

Time definitely becomes a factor with the longer lived species. It's reasonably easy to get adults if you're willing to pay, but things don't always work quickly. The desert species are nightmares in that regard with gestation commonly taking over a year. Can't speak as much about Pandinus or Heterometrus since I haven't kept those species to breed. Rhopalurus are pretty short and I believe Tityus can be too, but those are smaller species from more humid climates.

 

[wodesorel]

One strain of my Pandinus carried for over a year as well. I'm assuming in any case, since they had been housed with a male during that time so I can't be sure as to when, but they reached maturity at two years and I'm still waiting for the first set of young from some of them. They'll be turning four at the end of March and I don't expect babies before then. Strangely enough, my other line who are much smaller in size had babies by their second birthday so only carried for 6 months max. They're only a year older then the rest of my ladies and have already had their third batch, each about a year apart.

My concern is also how many broods can be expected in their lifespan at this rate. In captivity they only live 6 to 8 years. That's realistically one to three broods if everything goes perfectly with my larger Emps, with around 10 to 14 young each time. Not numbers I personally like, and I worry it will discourage casual breeders from devoting time and space to them.

 

[Galapoheros]

I've had the same experiences wodesorel, I've got an OK method of raising them though that is pretty low maintenance. I've been raising them in groups of around 7, in plastic tubs. Not pretty but I can forget about all of them for a couple of weeks, top on, water, nobody has eaten each other and I think I started with one pair around 2008 or 2009, can't remember. I kind of ignore the time. I think more little monsters are on the way.

 

[gromgrom]

As I've stated in other topics, and Panna and others have covered very well here (Thank you), you shouldnt ever breed scorpions for the money, even if emperors are at an all time high. There is demand for them. There is a low supply. Obviously more experienced breeders should be doing their part, but finding one will be tricky, then you have that long gestation. Most scorpions arent a commodity like tarantulas to be thrown around and bred 3-4 times a year, between molts. Many like Pandinus, Hadogenes, Parabuthus, Hottentotta, etc require alot of patience.

If i wanted to make a quick buck breeding animals, tarantulas and ball python morphs are a good bet, higher demand, quicker turnaround, much easier to find sexed pairs in classifieds.

Plus also remember, these are animals, but they're only worth the price someone is willing to pay. I personally think my Parabuthus villosus specimen are worth over $100 each to me, but others dont feel the same. I paid well over amount for them, each, as well, because they were worth it to me. So just keep a logical mind about it. Start breeding easier things like Babycurus jacksoni, Centruroides gracilis, guanesis, and limbatus, which can mature in under a year (If powerfed), and give birth once every 3-4 months. That's how I learned my chops!